2020 has caught us all off-guard. As a result of the pandemic, the world of work has changed almost beyond recognition in a relatively short period of time, forcing most of us into a new home-working routine. While most people started out with a temporary, makeshift home office, it is becoming quite clear that this is going to be our permanent place of work for the time being. Therefore, finding ways to remain professional at home is becoming a necessity.

Stepping Up Your Game

So, what does one need to focus on when professionalising their home office?

“The first thing you need to consider is a good headset,” says Richard Trestain, Product Marketing Manager for the EMEA North region at Jabra. “When you take hour long meetings, sound is critical. Low-grade audio, which you get from a lot of consumer devices, can be really exhausting for your brain.”

Richard Trestain

Richard Trestain

Other than a good headset, Trestain recommends we focus on a few other areas that can enhance the home working experience.

Turning our cameras on would be a good place to start.

“It’s important to embrace video. Time and time again, it’s been proven that video conferencing is more engaging and productive. It can also help with team cohesion and trust.”

“We’re also seeing a lot of people take notice of eye contact. I recommend placing the camera on top of the monitor, at eye level, so that you’ll be looking straight at the other person”

“Also, make sure you put most of your content directly below the camera, so that if you have to refer to it, you are still looking at the call participants.”

Many people are already coming to terms with the need to professionalise their home offices. “The purchases of things like monitors, office furniture, mice, keyboards etc. – went up in huge numbers,” says Trestain. “That’s a part of it. The numbers in headsets absolutely went up, but not in the same proportions. We can see that headsets are not regarded with the same importance as other peripherals.” The implication here is that people are making do with their consumer headset rather than investing in a professional quality device.

Professional headsets are an important device for the home office. In post-COVID reality, people spend hours on end attending remote meetings. “Ironically, people are actually spending 12% more time working when they’re home-based,” says Trestain. “We are seeing real fatigue, a large portion of which is caused by using the wrong equipment.”

“Consumer grade devices, which many people think are acceptable to use for work, are actually optimised for music,” says Trestain.

“When it comes to calls, they’re fine for personal use, but don’t provide the necessary sound quality needed for a productive meeting.”

 

 



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